how do you obfuscate all items in a publish to single file app

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  Official comment

  Hi rick105

   

  Thank you for reaching out on the Redgate forums regarding your SmartAssembly question regarding obfuscating into a single file app.

  When publishing a .NET application as a single file, SmartAssembly can still obfuscate it, but some extra steps are required since the assembly is embedded within the single file executable. 

  Here’s a possible method on how this can be achieved 

  1. Publish Without Single File First

  SmartAssembly needs access to the raw assembly (.dll) before it gets bundled into a single file.

  • Publish your app without the PublishSingleFile option first:
    dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained false
  • This generates a normal set of .dll files in the bin\Release\netX\publish\ folder.

  2. Obfuscate with SmartAssembly

  • Open SmartAssembly and create a new project.
  • Add your main application .dll (e.g., MyApp.dll).
  • Configure obfuscation, string encryption, control flow obfuscation, etc.
  • Build the obfuscated .dll.

  3. Publish as Single File Manually

  Now, repackage the obfuscated assembly into a single file:

  • Replace the original .dll with the obfuscated version.
  • Run the dotnet publish command with single file enabled:
    dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeAllContentForSelfExtract=true --self-contained false 
    The IncludeAllContentForSelfExtract=true ensures embedded assemblies can still be loaded properly.

  4. Test the Application

  • Run the generated .exe and verify functionality.
  • Use a decompiler to confirm that obfuscation is applied.

  Hopefully this process can be used to obfuscate your project and end with a single file executable as desired.

  Jon Kirkwood March 14, 2025 04:01

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